Line #73 Main/NarrowParody


1	%% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread:https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=16709325090.71167700
2	%% Previous thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1521128769074290700
3	%% Please do not change or remove without starting a new thread.
4	%%
5	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/narrowparody2.png]]
6	[[caption-width-right:300:Imitation is the cheapest form of comedy.[[note]]Top: ''Film/TheHungerGames''. Bottom: ''[[Creator/SeltzerAndFriedberg The Starving Games]]''[[/note]]]]
7	%%
8	%% Caption selected per crowner in Caption Repair Thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/crowner.php/ImagePickin/NarrowParodycaption
9	%% Please do not replace or remove without further discussion in that thread.
10	%%
11
12	->''"Instead of spoofing movies that came out two weeks ago, they decided to spoof movies that ''hadn't even come out yet''. This becomes painfully obvious when the "jokes" amount to simply recreating moments from the trailers and TV spots. Ultimately, this movie should have been called '''''2008 Movie''''', because it seems the main requirement for being spoofed here was being released in 2008."''
13	-->-- '''[[http://www.agonybooth.com/agonizer/Disaster_Movie_2008.aspx Albert Walker]]''' on ''Film/DisasterMovie2008''
14
15	Good parodies have different levels of accessibility, stretching from popular, new stuff to older classics. With a smaller pool of things being parodied, writers will feed on more generalized tropes.
16
17	The Narrow Parody occurs when the writers are afraid the target audience might be too young (or just too stupid) to catch the expected references, and have no concept of ParentalBonus (though there would still be demographic parental bonuses such as references to recent adult media in children's media or even [[DemographicDissonantCrossover crossovers between them]]), so they just narrow the field down to [[FleetingDemographicRule things made in the last few years]]. This can work against the writers, as works hailed as "classics" make for good parody, while fluff often doesn't. In many cases, the parody itself is also painfully obvious and laboured, going for the cheap laugh rather than trying to make any kind of point about what is being parodied.
18
19	If done poorly, the parody aspect seems more like a cover for [[TheMockbuster ripping off the most recent movies]], as sometimes there's nothing particularly iconic about the things being parodied. Much of this depends on your definition of "narrow".
20
21	These works are almost always doomed to become {{Unintentional Period Piece}}s. See also SmallReferencePools. Sometimes overlaps with ShallowParody, which is so badly researched that it gets vital details wrong and/or substitutes generic jokes in place of actual parody.
22
23	----
24	!!Examples:
25
26	[[foldercontrol]]
27
28	[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
29	* ''Literature/StudentCouncilsDiscretion'' is very guilty of this, with nearly all of their parodies being of shows from the last 2-3 years (the closer the better), including series from the same season. The times they reference something older are few and mostly refer to super-popular series like ''Manga/DragonBall'' and one AppealToObscurity to make a "nobody will get this" joke.
30	[[/folder]]
31
32	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
33	* Creator/SeltzerAndFriedberg films, along with being {{Shallow Parod\|y}}ies:
34	** ''Film/EpicMovie2007'', including parodies of such "epics" as ''Film/CharlieAndTheChocolateFactory'' and ''Film/NachoLibre''.
35	** ''Film/DisasterMovie2008'' suffered from this as well. It has [[ShallowParody half-assed]] parodies of ''Film/{{Juno}}'', ''Series/HannahMontana'', ''Film/IronMan1'', ''Series/SexAndTheCity'', ''Film/{{The Incredible Hulk\|2008}}'', ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda1'', ''Film/{{Hellboy\|2004}}'', ''Film/TheDarkKnight'', ''Film/{{Hancock}}'', ''Film/AlvinAndTheChipmunks'', ''Film/{{Superbad}}'', ''Film/HighSchoolMusical'', ''Film/TheLoveGuru'', ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheKingdomOfTheCrystalSkull'', ''Film/{{Enchanted}}'', ''Film/{{Wanted}}'', ''WesternAnimation/Beowulf2007'', ''Film/NightAtTheMuseum'', ''Film/{{Jumper}}'', and ''Film/TenThousandBC''. All of which are definitely not disaster films. Some even came out ''after Disaster Movie'' was in theaters, which takes ShallowParody to a truly ridiculous extreme: There's skimping on the research, and then there's not even bothering to watch the movie you're supposed to be parodying!
36	** ''Film/SpyHard'' is primarily a Film/JamesBond spoof, but it's pretty much a time capsule of early-to-mid 1990s pop culture, including references to ''Film/JurassicPark'', ''Film/TrueLies'', ''Film/{{Speed}}'', ''Film/SisterAct'', ''Film/PulpFiction'', ''Film/InTheLineOfFire'', and ''Film/HomeAlone'', not all of which have stood the test of time.
37	* ''Film/ScaryMovie'': The later films in the series ended up like this. Originally, they worked, as most HorrorTropes were [[TropeCodifier codified]] in TheEighties or earlier, so anyone with even a passing familiarity with the horror genre will get the jokes. However, later gags became a lot more obvious and telegraphed while the pool of references narrowed from broader subgenres of horror ({{slasher\|Movie}}s in the first, HauntedHouse[=/=][[OurGhostsAreDifferent ghost]] movies in the second) to specific, recent movies (some of which weren't even horror). The first big complaint from fans was the inclusion in the third film of an extended parody of ''Film/EightMile'', which had nothing to do with horror movies. The fourth film was probably the worst for this, as the primary plot is a spoof of ''Film/WarOfTheWorlds2005'', which isn't really a horror film so much as an action film, and there's also an extended (and plot-critical) parody of ''Film/MillionDollarBaby'', something else which is in no way a horror film[[note]]Although the ''Million Dollar Baby'' skit was crossed over with horror series ''Film/FinalDestination'', when the boxer's infamous predicament was foreseen[[/note]].
38	* ''Film/{{Enchanted}}'' is an inversion: the film is a very close parody of the at-the-time 48-year-old ''WesternAnimation/SleepingBeauty'' (with some elements of ''WesternAnimation/SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs'' and a touch of ''WesternAnimation/{{Cinderella}}'', which are even older), almost completely ignoring the much more recent [[UsefulNotes/TheRenaissanceAgeOfAnimation Disney Renaissance]] films--most of the tropes it parodies (the main character is a PrincessClassic FriendToAllLivingThings who falls in LoveAtFirstSight with PrinceCharming) were endemic to those early three films but infrequent at best in the Renaissance. This is fitting, since ''Enchanted'' is targeted more towards adults who grew up with ''Sleeping Beauty'' than with the more nuanced or deconstructive Renaissance films. The script was first written ''during'' the Renaissance but didn't get made until 2007.
39	* Several ''Film/TheThreeStooges'' gags and titles were based off various films and events of their time. Ironically, the [[ParodyDisplacement spoofed source material was all but forgotten]] while the Stooges are remembered today. One notable one was ''Dunked in the Deep'' (from 1949) where the antagonist was based off accused Soviet spy Alger Hiss. The short's "watermelon gag" (where microfilm was hidden in watermelons) was based off the 1948 "Pumpkin Papers", where four rolls of microfilm of State Department documents were concealed in pumpkins as evidence against Hiss. Only a few historians know much about this today.
40	* The sketch-comedy film ''Film/TheKentuckyFriedMovie'' features a long sequence called "A Fistful of Yen", which is an extremely specific, almost point-for-point spoof of ''Film/EnterTheDragon''. Luckily, ''Enter the Dragon'' is a classic of its genre, but if you watch ''Kentucky Fried Movie'' first, a lot of the jokes will fly right over your head.
41	* ''Film/{{Loaded Weapon 1}}'' (released 1993) is a parody of the then-quite-current ''Film/LethalWeapon'' movies - this includes spoofing specific scenes from ''Film/{{Lethal Weapon 3}}'', which came out only one year prior. It also takes time to parody ''Film/TheSilenceOfTheLambs'' (released 1991) and ''Film/BasicInstinct'' (released 1992).
42	[[/folder]]
43
44	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
45	* This can happen even in shows as acclaimed as ''Series/ArrestedDevelopment''. Some of the Iraq War references in particular more or less require one to be intimately familiar with 2002-2003's news about it.
46	* ''Series/{{Frontline}}'' started out parodying the Australian media in general before narrowing its focus to ''A Current Affair''.
47	* In ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'', a sketch may be centered around the sketch referencing another piece of then-recent pop culture. An actor may recreate the look and mannerisms of a character from another movie or TV series, as if it were the entirely of the joke.
48	[[/folder]]
49
50	[[folder:Music]]
51	* Music/TheBuggles' "Video Killed the Radio Star" parody "Internet Killed the Video Star," by "The Broadband," doesn't go much further than switching the original lyrics around. With the rise of WebVideoCreators, the song is a [[TheNineties 90's]] UnintentionalPeriodPiece.
52	[[/folder]]
53
54	[[folder:Print Media]]
55	* ''Magazine/{{MAD}}'' tended to rely on this trope, especially in the 1990s. (They've since gotten better.) One 1995 issue, for example, has multiple references to Newt Gingrich's "Contract With America." (A ''Magazine/{{Cracked}}'' issue from the very same month did likewise.) Good luck explaining to the average teenager in [[TheNewTens the 2010s]] exactly what this was.
56	** Parodied in 1954, before ''Mad'' even was a magazine, in a FauxToGuide parodying their imitators by introducing into a lampoon of ''Theatre/JuliusCaesar'' such unexplained elements as the ''Franchise/{{Dragnet}}'' theme ("Routine #8...the Domm-Da Dom-Domm routine! No explanation necessary!") and:
57	--->"...Eth's Creator/MarilynMonroe! What's she doing here?"\
58	''What's she doing everywhere else? Routine #10: Marilyn Monroe... Wherever possible!''
59	* A cartoon from [[TheNineties the late 1990s]] shows the Greek gods and goddesses of Olympus being portrayed by then-popular celebrities. Some of the cameos made a good deal of sense, like Creator/SylvesterStallone as Ares and Music/{{Madonna}} as Athena. But when it came to "casting" Poseidon (the god of the sea), the cartoonist awarded the role to... Tiger Woods, who has nothing at all to do with maritime or nautical themes. How did the cartoonist justify this move? By having Poseidon ''hit a golf ball with his trident''. Still a huge stretch.
60	[[/folder]]
61
62	[[folder:Professional Wrestling]]
63	* Done by the [[Wrestling/NewWorldOrder nWo]] to the Wrestling/TheFourHorsemen the week after Wrestling/CurtHennig was inducted. While some parts were funny, many wrestlers and commentators have said since that the skit was harsh in its portrayal of [[Wrestling/ArnAnderson Double-A]] as TheAlcoholic. Arn has had legitimate struggles for years with this problem, and Flair has never been shy about defending Arn when the skit is mentioned. Apparently Arn got into a fight with someone over the skit, but Flair has been tight-lipped about whom, saying only, "Arn is a tough guy, and I'll leave it at that."
64	-->'''Wrestling/RicFlair:''' What hurt everyone's feeling was, his son is watching that at home, and they're depicting Arn as drinking beer all day long? His kid is watching that, and nobody wants to see that.
65	[[/folder]]
66
67	[[folder:Puppet Shows]]
68	* ''Series/SesameStreet'' often falls into this as part of its attempt to add {{Parental Bonus}}es. It's often borderline impossible to do a true parody of the subject matter while also staying kid-friendly, so they simply copy the title, the appearance of the characters, and the general setting. [[Series/TrueBlood True Mud]], for example, was about a man's attempt to get a waitress to serve him Mud (as opposed to spud, cud, and a dud).
69	[[/folder]]
70
71	[[folder:Theatre]]
72	* Not even Creator/WilliamShakespeare is immune to this trope. The Bard's comedies feature a number of inexplicable passages that, many scholars conjecture, are joking shout-outs to other popular Elizabethan plays that are now lost to history.
73	* Likewise, Creator/{{Aristophanes}}' comedies are filled with extremely topical references, which you need to know a lot about Ancient Athenian politics and theatre to get. Luckily, some of his satire is still relevant today (such as his mocking depictions of demagogues, warmongers, and the paranoia over the state security of Athens), and there are also plenty of jokes about [[ToiletHumour farts]] and [[GagPenis penises]], which never go out of style.
74	[[/folder]]
75
76	[[folder:Western Animation]]
77	* Due to ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'''s rapid turnaround, they're able to parody and satirize aspects of pop culture that are only a few days old. Some of these references rapidly drop out of the public consciousness after the episode has aired.
78	* The ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'' song "Video [[StealthPun Revue]]", set in a video store (which ''in itself'' makes this sequence dated) is basically a LongList of characters and plot points from random movies from the 1980s and early '90s, some of which are barely remembered today (if that). To be honest, however, a lot of referential jokes and songs in ''Animaniacs'' went this way, especially if you did not live in the USA in the 1980s-early 1990s. "Video Revue," however, can be excused as an homage to the "things come to life in a bookstore" genre of cartoons, most of which were similarly products of their time.
79	* On that note, ''many'' WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes cartoons of the '30s and '40s are essentially this. Take, for example, "The Woods Are Full of Cuckoos", where most of the jokes are based upon the fact that a celebrity of the 1930s has been parodied as an animal.
80	* While most of the ''[[WesternAnimation/AlvinAndTheChipmunks Chipmunks Go to the Movies]]'' episodes spoofed movies that are still frequently recalled today, a few of the movies they parodied were merely popular when they came out in TheEighties / the top of TheNineties: ''Film/{{Big}}'', ''Film/DickTracy'' and ''Film/{{Splash}}''.
81	* Much like the magazine it's based on, ''WesternAnimation/{{Mad}}'' primarily parodies movies and programs from the early 2010s, often ones that are less than a year old.
82	* Played for laughs with ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken''[='s=] parody of ''Film/IntoTheBlue''. The entire premise of the parody is that since it takes several months to produce a ''Robot Chicken'' episode, all they had to work with at the time was the trailer, leading to characters mostly just repeating the title over and over. Seth Green also states that he's sure that by the time the skit comes out, the movie will have become a box office blockbuster and won several Academy Awards, when it was a complete flop and was largely forgotten.
83	* While older episodes of ''WesternAnimation/TreehouseOfHorror'' averted this, being parodies of older horror films and stories (particularly ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959''), later installments tended to play it straight, often to the point of breaking the intended "horror" theme. ''XXVII'', for instance, featured parodies of ''Film/MadMaxFuryRoad'', ''Film/KingsmanTheSecretService'', and ''Film/TheHungerGames'': about the only thing those three have in common is that they all had an installment [[ProductionLeadTime the year before the episode released]].
84	[[/folder]]

Context Main / NarrowParody